A writeshop was held in March as part of the collaboration between SIMLESA (Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems For Food Security In Eastern And Southern Africa), the ACIAR funded project and N2Africa. An international team of nitrogen fixation experts met to write a state-of-the-art manual on Rottnest Island, off Fremantle, West Australia. Participants were John Howieson, Mariangela Hungria, Ken Giller (N2Africa Steering Committee), David Herridge, Ros Deaker (University of Sydney), Graham O’Hara, Ron Yates, Wayne Reeve, Vanessa Melino (Murdoch University) and Phil Poole (John Innes Institute). Abdullahi Bala was unable to get a visa to attend but contributed two outline chapters for the manual. At the end of the week more than 95% of thirteen chapters was ready for review and polishing. It is hoped that the manual will be printed within a few months so that it can become the standard laboratory text for N2Africa.
